ThinkCure!

UPDATE: Lineup below…

There’s no better way to go into a weekend series than with a four-game sweep…you’ve got to like the way the team is playing right now with six weeks left to go in the season.

As I’m sure you’ve heard or seen, the ThinkCure radio telethon started this morning and will run through tomorrow night’s game. There is tons of great programming on KABC 790, including a newly added three-hour DodgerTalk from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. today.

At the end of the show, Josh Suchon told the DodgerTalk listeners that he wants bragging rights that the package sold to spend the day with DodgerTalk goes for more money than the one that allows someone to go Inside the Dodgers.

Well, that’s my challenge to all of you. ITD needs those bragging rights and I promise that the experience we give the winner of the Inside the Dodgers package will be one that you will never forget for the rest of your life. Trust me on this one. Jump in there and help raise money for an amazing cause.

And we defy
Defy the J-I,
J-I-N
J-I-N-T,
The J-I-N-T-S, Giants!
Play ball!

Orlando Cepeda is at bat with the bases jammed.
Orlando Cepeda, with a wham, bam, he hit a grand slam.
In the very first inning, but it’s only the begining,
In the third, like a bird, we get two on, none away.
Then Fairly hits into a double play.
Here comes Big Frank Howard, yessiree,
Boy, what a swing! Strike three.

Top of the fifth, say hey Willy Mays
Hits a three bagger down the right field line.
But he’s out trying to stretch it to a homer,
As Roseboro tags him on the bottom of the spine.
With a crack you can hear
All the way back up to
San Francisco, open your hospitals!
Charge!

Maury goes, the catcher throws,
Right from the solar plexus.
At the bag he beats the tag
That mighty little waif,
And umpire Conlin cries, `Yer out!`
Out? Out???

Down in the dugout Alston glowers,
Up in the booth Vin Scully frowns.
Out in the stands O’Malley grins,
Attendance fifty thousand.
And what does O’Malley do?
Charge!

Bottom of the ninth, four to nuttin`,
Last chance, push the button!
Oh we’re pleading, begging, on our knees,
Come on you Flatbush refugees!
Maury Wills at bat, hit it for me once,
Stu Miller throws, Maury bunts.

Cepeda runs to field the ball and Hiller covers first,
Haller runs to back up Hiller,
Hiller crashes into Miller,
Miller falls, drops the ball, Conlin calls `Safe!`
Yea, Maury!

Gilliam up, Miller grunts.
Miller throws, Gilliam bunts.

Cepeda runs to field the ball and Hiller covers first,
Haller runs to back up Hiller,
Hiller crashes into Miller,
Miller falls, drops the ball, Conlin calls `Safe!`
Yea, Conlin!

Willie Davis gets a hit
And Tommy does the same,
Here comes Mr. Howard
With a chance to win the game.
Hit it once!
Big Frank bunts?!?

Cepeda runs to field the ball, so does Hiller, so does Miller Miller hollers ‘Hiller`,
Hiller hollers `Miller,`
Haller hollers `Hiller,` points to Miller with his fist,
And that’s the Miller Hiller Haller Halleluia Twist!

The Davises score, it’s four to four,
And Howard’s still rounding the bases.
From second to third, it’s almost absurd,
Amazement on everyone’s faces.

He’s heading for home, he hasn’t a chance,
The poor lad is gonna be dead.
But the ball hits him right in the seat of his pants
And he scores! That’s using your head.

Eric–thanks for the video link! It was great. I actually liked the lego people. Maybe one of our song writers needs to rewrite a song for the game against the Padres from a couple of years ago when Nomar hit the walk off!

Good morning everybody at ITD.
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Sweet win last night. I missed most of the game as it isn’t on the general TV up here in Norcal. But I checked on my cell from time to time. Also after sundown we get the broadcast on the radio.
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Sort of wierd that last year when we went down to LA/Laguna we weren’t able to get the broadcast on the radio until we came down from the Grapevine into the LA Basin. Even though it was night time.
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The Brewers will be tough this weekend but hopefully the Blue Crew will keep rolling on and take the series from the Brew Crew.
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Go Blue!!

jnv, yep. They were good ones, true enough. Enchanted mentioned Kevin Brown for a couple/three years as well. But you’re both helping me make my point. Twenty years and we’ve had some good ones, but no Koufax/Drysdale/Valenzuela/Hershiser types. That’s what we’re hoping to get from Billz and Kersh.

nelly, someone here mentioned that song a while back and I’ve been meaning to find it and post it as is.

jnv ~ LOL!! I am in the classroom. I was just checking to see who was on and what everyone was talking about. I usually talk on here when I am doing paper work, answering e-mails, and printing labels, etc. Students don’t show up until Monday – 🙂 My own kids started Wednesday.
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dnel ~ ethieraholic (I did put my Andre picture shrine up this morning all around my desk area. Andre is everywhere!! – However, I do have a team picture up, a picture of Dodger Stadium and various other player pictures, but Andre kind of sticks out, if you know what a mean – LOL)

The Dodgers put in a waiver claim on Ronnie Belliard, making it possible for them to acquire the second baseman from Washington in a trade. But it appears the Dodgers made the move to prevent Belliard from going to Arizona, which lost Orlando Hudson for the season.

jnv ~ LOL!! My husband is pretty good about it, and knows it’s all in fun. I have pretty much allowed him to do what he wants in terms of starting businesses and such, so he let’s me have my fun, too. Even though my area is very Dodger/Ethierish, I do have many pictures of my family as well.
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enchanted – ??????? what are the question marks for? lol!!
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dnel, nells, and mom ~ ethieraholics

JNV-Yes, I actually have the extra innings package. It is great except for when the Dodgers go east and we don’t get Vin! However last night was date night and we wen’t to Chevy’s for dinner. They have TV’s but wouldn’t be showing the game unless it was on ESPN or they were playing the Giants.
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The funny thing was my wife was bummed the game wouldn’t be on. I don’t know if that is good for me or bad for me being it was date night! LOL!!
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The good thing about extra innings is that I get to watch the game every night. The bad is I’m not at the gym much these days!

To funny Dnel~ My wife also thinks Ethier is good looking as with Russell and who knows maybe she has pictures at work of them??? LOL

DC are you in the Sacramento area? That is funny about your wife, because my wife also loves watching the games as much as I do. During baseball season we both get home from work and look forward to watching the Dodgers game. I usually Tivo the game so when we don’t get Vin I can fast forward a lot of the game.

In terms of FA’s. I’m all for CC. I was hoping we would of traded for him with the package that included LaRoche (Not Kemp) only if we had him resigned included in the deal.
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I also like Sheets but with all of his injurys I’m not into that risk.
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CC has as far as I can remember a pretty good health record although he looks as if he needs to loose a little weight. When your younger you can get away with that.
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Enchanted made a post this morning at 9:35 on the previous thread and I think those would be good moves except I wouldn’t want Sheets.
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In addition to those moves I would try to move Pierre for some middle relief pitching.
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I like Kent but I wouldn’t want to resign him this year.
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Also they really need to longterm the youngsters soon.
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The other problem is at SS. I’m for resigning Furcal for a 1 yr with incentives, but what if that does happen and he continues to have his injurys. We really need a better back up plan than what was there this year.

dcollins ~ I too would like them to trade Pierre for relief but, I don’t think there are any takers. I have a feeling that they have tried with no luck. I also agree with signing the young core of players.

JNV-No I’m in Novato. The North Bay about 15 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I have a cousin in Roseville. I like going to Sacramento to Rivercats games. I haven’t been able to make it in the last year due to work, but for a few years there I went to about 10-15 games a year. That was late 90’s early 2000’s before I was a Manager at work and married. My wife loves baseball and also loves to go.
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We went to the AAA Allstar Game/Homerun Derby there a few years ago. It’s nice going to a game and it still being warm as opposed to in the city.
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That’s cool about your Wife enjoying the games also. My Wife & I are the same. Although she gets all little nervous sometimes. She has been getting more upset this year watching some of the games than me!
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Great idea with TIVO. I need to do that with our DVR. Then I can get to the gym and not miss any of the game. I got a portable XM radio with headphones for the gym but it doesn’t recieve in there. Bummer…

I realize there are alot of factors..But my gosh..and it’s nice to be able to break it down without complaining.
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Kemp has scored 22 runs and drove in 14 in 28 games in leadoff
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Pierre had scored 26 runs and drove in 14 in 60 games in leadoff..

So not to bash, but would we make the playoffs this year if Kemp stayed in leadoff and scored 4 runs total in his next 32 games played, along with 0rbi??

trueblu ~ he already knows that!! LOL!!
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jnv/dcollins ~ This is my house on game nights. If the Dodgers and Giants are on at different times, then we will watch both games together if we are in the house. If the games are on at the same time, I usually watch the Dodgers on a different television. If we are playing each other and we are winning, I stay in the room. If we are losing, then I leave the room to have peace and quiet from my son. I also like watching other teams so baseball is pretty much on from the time I get home until the last ballgame is over.

TBlue–Maybe they weren’t able to trade him during the season, but I’m sure that after 1 more year off his contract and it being they have all of the offseason they could find someone who could use him.

TruBlue – Trading Pierre for relief – that’s way too funny LMAO!
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Nelly – Perhaps you are seeing ????? in enchanted’s post about what Kuo says, but I am seeing Chinese characters (that apparently translate to Fu-Q)
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Pierre watch today. Not that I want Pierre – more like a tornado watch – watch out, Brew Crew is starting a lefty. Hopefully Ethier has proven over the past couple games that he should be in there against a lefty. I have been liking the current eight-man lineup way too much for it to be spoiled with the likes of Pierre.
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And I’m calling it now – Kent gets a home run tonight. Hey, it worked for Kemp last night (not quite for Blake, though).

I hope you are right about Pierre, DC. I think it would be better for our team not having him around pouting during every game. And who know, maybe someone out there need this kind of a team player. LOL

DC I was just in your neck of the woods last weekend. My wife and I went to the Dodgers/Gnats game on Saturday. We got into town around 10:00 am. We spent the day at fishermans wharf and we went over to the Golden Gate Bridge so I could take pictures. It was pretty cool because of the fog. I have some really neat pictures of the bridge disappearing into the fog.

Sounds like fun Nelly! I also like watching other teams and hearing their announcers. Some are pretty good. Not Vin, but still enjoyable.
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I thought that the Phillies announcers were pretty good. They were pretty complimentary towrads out team.
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Actually the Giants announcers were better this weekend. I think they even realize the Dodgers are a better team than they are and the Dodgers are actually a pretty good, team. My Wife even said numerous times that they were being nicer than usual.
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Some of the commercials are pretty fun to see although they always make me want to visit the city of whoever we are playing due to some of the food ads.

No I didn’t. I would call my self an “amatuer” photographer (which really means= expensive hobby) and wanted to take photographs of the GG Bridge and fisermans wharf, etc… Next time I go out there I would really like to go to Sausalito.

Cincinati had some ads for summy good looking BBQ. Also there were some ads for a steak sandwich place along the east coast.
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I wish we had some good southern style BBQ around here. The closest is in Berkley & it isn’t the same. They don’t have sweet tea or hush puppies!
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When in Vero this year they had a place called Sonny’s BBQ. It is a chain but it was gooooood!! They also didn’t have hush puppies but they had great sweet tea.

JNV-next time you go let me know and I’ll give you some tips of where I like to go. For food and photo opportunities. I’m also working on becoming a photographer. I purchased a PENTAX camera this year. I want to retire and become a baseball photographer.
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My dream would be to retire to Santa Monica and be one of the photographers for the Dodgers and/or baseball cards.
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I’ve got a long way to go for both!!!

I’m excited as I got the ok from my and the Wifes’ bosses for our vacation in September. So we are going to LA/Laguna!! 2 Dodgers games on the 20th & 21st!! Woo HOOOOO! Although now I need to get tickets, hotels, etc…

jnv/dc ~ that’s what’s fun about watching other games are the commercials. It’s fun seeing advertisements for things that you do see in California. As far as announcers, the worst ones so far were the Phillies – talk about boring, no enthusiasm what so ever.
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crash ~ Believe me, I know what enchanted words are supposed to say. It’s just not coming through correctly on the computer at school. I will have to see if the one at home is different. Thanks for letting me know it is working for you.
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trueblu ~ really, I didn’t know she was doing that. Tells you what I know – lol!!

Nelly-The Phillies announcers weren’t yellers but in the game I heard they were nice to the Dodgers so I’m okay with them. Maybe they were dull because they new it was hopeless!! They new they were going to be swept!! LOL!
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One of their announcers has a real unique voice. Almost an old time voice. I could imagine hearing him on an old radio from the 40’s or so. I sat and listened with my eyes closed and enjoyed him.

By yellers I mean get excited.
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Steiner always gets excited for a “long fly ball…hit way back…and caught by Burrell short of the warning track.”
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If it’s short of the warning track, it isn’t a long fly ball to get excited about!!
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He gets me excited and usually it’s for nothing!
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I really do hope they have a plan for someone to replace Vin when he retires. Listening to him has been such a pleasure.

One more fact about tonight’s Pierre watch. Pierre is the one Dodger with the most success against Parra – he’s 2-for-4 against him. No other Dodger has more than three at-bats against Parra. Is this enough evidence to put Pierre in the lineup tonight? Not in my mind, but in Joe’s mind . . .?

Well it looks like the D’s are doing everything in their power to win the West. I read earlier today that apparentely they claimed Ronnie Belliard, who was on waivers, from the Washington Nationals. They didn’t necesarrily pick him up, but they can negotiate a trade for him. This was done to block Belliard from going to Arizona to replace Hudson. If this is indeed true, kudos to Ned Colletti. Adam Dunn will not even come close to having the impact of a Manny!!! Go Dodgers….

Looks like Joe sees things with a little different perspective than Kent has. Regarding the addition of Manny to the lineup (from the Daily News)
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“I think once the dust settled and the hitters – especially the hitters hitting ahead of him – realized that they could be a little more selective, that’s when I think we started having a little more consistency,” Torre said. “Jeff Kent is the perfect example of a guy who knows what to do with a good pitch to hit.”

For another review on the Phllies broadcast, I am posting my friend Linda’s comments from the forum she hosts:
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During the Dodger games which are televised on local L.A. TV and not Fox Sports Prime Ticket, Extra Innings usually provides the opposing team’s feed of the broadcast. I’m always missing Vinnie on those occasions, but as that was the case tonight, I got to hear Harry Kalas call it from the Phillies’ side, and believe me, that is the next best thing. Kalas is a true professional, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to listen to, and calls the first three and final three innings”
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Also from Wednesday’s game:
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In the middle innings, Phillies broadcaster Gary Matthews made a few comments about early players in the history of Dodger Stadium, and mentioned speedster Maury Wills as the player who “revolutionized base stealing in the major leagues” when he first came on the scene in the late 1950s: “And Maury will be joining us soon.” It was a pleasant surprise to hear their conversation with him about the early days of OLOCR’s existence, when speed and pitching carried the Dodgers, and Wills was a key player of three world championship teams. He talked about playing in the Coliseum vs. playing in the then-“new” ballpark and how his base-stealing techniques were more effective in Dodger Stadium.
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One of the funniest moments of that conversation came when the Dodgers were hitting, and with Manny Ramirez at the plate, the pending haircut issue was inevitably raised. Wills was asked, “Could you imagine having that hair when you were playing?” He responded that it’d be hard to steal bases with those locks, as if his feet might get tangled up in them. LOL!
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As the visit to the booth came to an end, Matthews mentioned that he had always enjoyed playing there with the Phillies, closing with,
“This beautiful stadium never seems to age, and neither does Maury Wills.” Maury is usually pretty engaging and talkative, but he seemed
more so tonight than I’ve heard him in awhile. “

TruBlue – Absolutely! I agree with you. But let’s juxtapose Torre’s comment against the one that Kahli gave us yesterday from Kent:
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“Dodgers 2B Jeff Kent went 1-for-4 and is now 14-for-30 with eight RBIs in eight games since moving to the No. 3 spot in the batting order, raising his average from .256 to .272. He said he didn’t believe the change had anything to do with his hot streak. “Sometimes things go your way for unexplained reasons,” he said.

I think Joe has it right when he says that the addition of Manny helps the whole lineup – one through eight. When all eight batters are threats both average-wise and power-wise, there is no pitching around any of them.
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Of course, that logic gets thrown out the window if he adds Pierre to the lineup tonight!

Nice night at Chavez ravine yesterday. Tidy game, Kuroda and Kuo were great, and The Bison’s homer was SMOKED. In case it wasn’t shown on TV, Broxton did warm up and I’m certain that if Kuo got into trouble with runners reaching in the ninth, the last batter he would face was Howard, with Broxton coming in to pitch to Burrell.
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It would have been hard NOT to “spot” Ashley Tisdale since they put her up on the big screen. I did not know who she was, and only a skinny actress would have experience a “night chill” yesterday.
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Tanyon Sturtze has a fair amount of experience, most of it bad. His career numbers are Tomdricksonesque:
794.7 IP, 885 H, 110 HR, 470/332 K/BB, 5.21 ERA, 1.531 WHIP. And as crash24 now pointed out, recovering from rotator cuff surgery. He better be on mop-up duty only.
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This is actually Sturtze’s THIRD go-’round with the Dodgers. I’d forgotten that he was in ST 2004 (and released before Opening Day), picked up by the Marlins immediately and released four DAYS later (!), then signed as AAA-filler until he was traded to the Yanks for nearly nothing (Brian Myrow).
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Current ace (or ace in the making): Chad Billingsley. Since 4/30: 20 starts, 129 IP (6.45 per start avg.), 11-5, 2.51, 1.202 WHIP.
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Last aces (working backwards in time):
1. last year’s Brad Penny? 16-4, 3.03, but 1.308 WHIP – maybe he was a little lucky in only allowing 9 HR?
2. Kevin Brown. Yes, a prickly jerk, but the first two and one-half seasons, plus the fifth season (hurt the rest of the third season, part of the fourth and the rest of the fourth was coming back from injury): 119 GS, 809 IP (6.79 IP/GS), 55-28, 2.67, 1.074 WHIP
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BTW, when Brown was traded, some cash came back, LA got two league-average-ish years from Jeff Weaver (in other words decent 3/4 starter numbers) and one of the two compensatory draft picks for Weaver was Bryan Morris who was part of the Manny trade.

So does AliceDuarte posts in here? I just bid on ITD item that she is also bidding on among other items. For those at the stadium, tonight is also auction night in the Club level. I always go and check what they have and occasionally bid.

Jnv, you may be right. Besides leaving things alone, there’s also the concern of over-working your catcher. However, it’s hard to ignore Russ’ .422 lifetime OBP against lefties, his speed, and his 3-for-3 performance the other night.

Jnv, I guess what you’re saying is that if Russ goes down, where would that leave us in September for a backstop? Ardoin would be a fair (not good) replacement for a few games. But imagine if he also got hurt and we had to rely on Bennett? I shudder to think of it…

TruBlue – Sounds high to me. I know nothing about memorabilia prices, but on eBay stores, I found a John Smoltz (lock hall of famer) autographed jersey selling for $350. In the end, I’d imagine Manny’s fetching the most.

I’m deciding between Koufax and the Duke. Snider is the best Dodger batsman of all time AND a good CF. Somewhat overlooked because he played at the same time and in the same city as DiMaggio, Mantle and Mays, but was an all-time GREAT. Just ask (Joe) pierreeastmeetswest!

Eric I know what you mean. I originally picked Koufax, I thought about Campy and then decided on Robinson. And I will have to be involved in that talk with anyone that would put down Sutton as the all time greatest Dodger.

westernmost ~ I am really just kidding. I have my Ethierbear signed. That’s good enough for me. I spent enough on the jersey that wasn’t signed. I will just wait until I meet Andre again, and have him sign the one I have.
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eric ~ the little boy (now 4th grader) that started this whole baseball craze in my classroom just came in to visit. He was very impressed by all the baseball stuff up. I keep telling him, “you are the one that started this whole thing.” I told him to stop by in a few weeks when I start the time line and the stadium tour. His dad said he’s been paying attention to the Dodgers every since Manny started on the team. He is very upset with his A’s team right now, but I told him to hang in there. They are going young, and they will be okay next year. Also, one of my girls from last year came in (Sabrina), and I showed her the song you did for me. Her and her mom were very impressed. She was also very glad to see Ethierbear was signed by Andre.

TruBlue44 – yes the charity aspect will make the price higher. But if Manny is three-digits on the open market, I can’t imagine Ethier’s being four-digits in this auction. On the other hand, Kuroda’s is into the 600s already.

Tonight’s lineup (against a LH starter. Get used to it folks, this is who is playing against lefties, and last night’s group is for righties):
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Pierre, CF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Ramirez, LF
Garciaparra, SS
Martin, C
Blake, 3B
Loney, 1B
Billingsley, RHP

Hey all… that poll question is tough. Voted for Koufax now, will vote for Robinson after work. Making me choose between those two is like choosing which leg to chop off.

It’s funny, people assume that because I’m hispanic, that my favorite Dodger is Fernando. Fernando is AWESOME!!! Definitely one of my favorite all-timers, don’t get me wrong on that.

It’s just funny when I’m in my American Philosophy class a few years back and the professor, a diehard Yankees fan, picks on the guy wearing the Brooklyn Dodgers hat and asked me why I was a Dodgers fan. I replied mostly because of lifelong loyalty, with a bit of geographic location thrown in.

Asked me who my favorite player was, I said a tie between Koufax, Robinson and Drysdale. Then he asked who was my favorite player growing up. I said Steve Sax. He said “I was hoping to get you to say Fernando.” I said “He was great, but I’d be lying to say he was my favorite growing up.”

Thanks, oldfogey. Eventually, I may get used to it, but that doesn’t mean that I will ever like it. You all probably figured this out years ago, but it finally dawned on me – the reason Pierre doesn’t get more walks is because pitchers go right after him. Who fears his hitting game, which includes bunts, ground outs, and pop-ups? (and an occasional double down the line).

June, you must be a pretty cool teacher if you have former students coming by to visit! I’m glad you’re sharing that song with the kids. I’m afraid that the little A’s fan might be in for a lot of frustration. I don’t think they’ll ever draw enough to hold onto their talent.

So, jnv and Tru – I haven’t been imagining the east coast bias from ESPN?

Told ya so crash!!! (jk)
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Okay ~ I don’t like lineup, but I suppose I can live with it. I guess Andre will just have to come off the bench and hit the game winning hit against a LEFTY again or a home run against a LEFTY again. Whatever, this is just ridiculous from a defensive point of view. Manny and JP in the outfield for defensive purposes is a negative (IMO, of course), but I guess until JP does something to show the weakness, this is the way it will be. Fine!!
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dnelly ~ ethieraholic who is pissed!!!

No Eric you haven’t. Ever notice how game recaps of every game east of the Mississippi lasts about 5 minutes and every game west of the mississippi lasts about 30 seconds.

Western, I am with Crash, I don’t have to like it! 🙂
I can’t believe freak`n JOJO the clown took a line up that just sweept a first place team and changed it. My wife is right he is doing all he can to NOT win!!

Eric ~ I’ve noticed the bias on ESPN for a long time. You’d think that the Yankees & Red Sox are the only two teams on this planet. No matter who they play, they’re on t.v. I know the Rays are in the East but, I have yet to see a game of theirs televised and they are in 1st place.

eric, yeah that East Coast bias is vicious. Try to watch ANYTHING on espn around 7 tonight without finding out what Phelps did 3 hours ahead of when we’d get a chance to see it.

The Rays could be 20 games up in the division, and instead of talking about them, they’d talk about Boston and the Yanks licking their wounds and offering up hollow solliliquies of “Watch out for next year”. I know Handkerchief Hank was singing that tune 2 days ago.

It is hard to pick the greatest Dodger and much easier to pick a favorite. I think I will go with Jackie for the reasons already mentioned. The Duke will always be my favorite Brooklyn/L.A. Dodger and of course I loved Drysdale and Koufax. But if I had to pick my all time favorite (not necessarily the greatest) I would go with Maury Wills.

I was interested to see the reaction here to the auction. My wife looked at the items last night and she felt it better to wait until the end. However, she posed the question of how much I would be willing to pay to meet Vinny and while I think it would be a big thrill, the price may already be too high. I recall attending a Dodger game some years ago on a Sunday and after the game they auctioned off some items including jerseys worn that day that the player would autograph. Two fans were bidding head to head for an Eric Karros jersey and he came out of the clubhouse to assist. The price got up to over $4000 and as I recall everyone was yelling to let them both have one for that kind of money which I think they did.

Vinny says Kemp is a five tool player – runs, hits, hits for power, fields, throws.
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That would make Ethier a four tool player – hits, hits for power, fields, throws.
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And that would make Pierre what? runs and fields. Two tools. That leaves two tools on the bench (with Ethier).

It’s not just the length of the highlights, but the frequency. You can sit and watch and wait through the same highlights of the Yankees and Red Sox and Mets, two and three times before you get to the Dodgers. And then they show one play.

Beaver, leave your mom alone for a while. You know how she gets when her favorite is being picked on.

Eric ~ I’m with you on the highlights. We are in first place now, have been close before and we are the last highlight of the night. No respect. And now, most of the highlight is the length of Manny’s hair!

Yarrum ~ When you think about it, there are so many great Dodgers (boy, what a franchise) it’s very hard to pick just one. It’s not like the other night when ESPN and the fans had to pick the best Florida Marlin!!

Northstateblues ,
people assume the same about me that because i am hispanic, I would say Fernando. And also, don’t get me wrong, I liked Fernando a lot, but I always had this thing for catcher so Mike Scioscia was my favorite. Another favorite was Bobby Welch. I shared that corny story at the 80’s luncheon why he became one of my favorites. Now for old timers, like someone said is hard to pick between Koufax and Jackie. Last year during a sale at the Top of the Park, I bought Jackie’s jersey. The was the only one left and they did not have Koufax. I do have my #42 jersey on for tonight’s game along with a #42 blue t-shirt. After I bought Beltre’s jersey and he left, I stopped buying current players’s jerseys.

Pierre SUX!!!!! If JOJO the clown won’t use him as a pinch runner and has to put him in the starting line up then just get rid of him and eat his salary so we can win this freak`n division!!!!! JOJO pull you head out of Nerds backside!!!

Joe: They say we’re old and we can’t see
Anything good about walks or OBP.
Juan: Well I don’t care if all that’s true
‘Cause you got me, and baby I got you
Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Joe: They say our love won’t win no games
But I don’t care if we go down in flames.
Juan: I guess that’s so, I don’t care either
as long as I get to start instead of Ethier

Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Juan: I got 8….point 8 mil, and I put you…. in my will.
Joe: And when I’m sad, you’re a clown
And if I get scared, you’re always around
Joe: So let them say your hat’s too big
‘Cause I don’t care, let them call me pig
Juan: Then put your little hand in mine
There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb

Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Juan: I got you to write my name
Joe: I got you to lead the game
Juan: I got you to pull up my socks
Joe: I got you to take me on walks

Amy! I am so looking forward to the WIN event! I am not a morning person but I’ll be there at 8:45 Am like the confirmation says. I think I will be wearing my Jeff Kent blue shirt and my brother’s #8 jersey (for Mattingly) but maybe I’ll change my mind. We are getting hats there so don’t bring one. Just a glove.

I hope we lose tonight. I hope we lose every game Slappy plays in. It is hard to get excited for this game and every game Slappy plays in. It’s really tough to watch your favorite team not play their best 9 guys every night especially when we have to win as many games as possible and Juan Pierre just doesn’t give us the best chance to win. I don’t care if he’s batting over .355 against lefties this season. He makes so many outs we’d be better off playing a man down. This makes me shake my head in disgust.

Max, I hope Pierre goes 3-for-4 with two runs tonight and we win it on an Ethier pinch hit home run. I’d rather see Joe play the best nine, but he’s not, and yet, I’m still pulling for a Dodger win tonight.

Your a better man than me crash, I seem to root for JP to fail. I know I shouldn’t because he is a Dodger. Maybe I do because the only way JOJO will play the best 8 is if he is playing his worst. I should root for a team win and I know that. Go figure????? 🙂

max ~ JP goes 1 for 4 almost every game (maybe 2 for 4), and I just don’t think it’s worth risking defense for it. I rather risk Ethier going 0 for 4 and have his arm out in the field for defense.
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I really do hope it is for showcasing because there is really no other reason to have JP out there other than to PH and possible run if he gets on.

Max, we feel your pain but you can’t be serious about hoping the Dodgers lose just because you don’t like the lineup. Even with Pierre this lineup is certainly superior to the lineups we used to complain about that did not include anyone named Blake, Ramirez or Garciaparra.

If Pierre is in the game I will root for him because the front of his uniform says Dodgers or Los Angeles. I want him to do well just as I want any Dodger player to do well because doing so gives the team a better chance of winning.

lbirken, I hate to say it but if that got Juan Pierre off this team I would be all for the team losing every game he plays. Think about it, We have him for 3 more years!!!! And he won’t be a pinch runner like we all want him to be. Torre is going to play him no matter what.

I too always root for the Dodgers, Ibirken. It’s just when you play a pretty hot team like the Brewers, I’d like to have the best players out there. We just swept the Phillies and are on a roll. So, we shouldn’t ruin it, just so a player won’t mope.

Have a look at Pierre’s history with teams. For both Colorado and Florida, as long as his OBP was over .370 they were happy with him. Then, when his OBP fell below .340, they shipped him off.
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Lucky us, he’s been at a nice steady (low) .329 for two years and we get to keep him for another three years.

max–you can’t root against us tonight–we have Bills going.
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The line-up really doesn’t make sense. I get that Torre is thinking that Pierre is hitting left-handers and Ethier is not, but I don’t think that the long-term stats really bear this out. I get teh idea that Pierre will play once in a while, but, let’s not kid ourselves. And hitting Loney 8th (I think that, other than Manny, he currently leads the team in average) continues to be bizzarree–particularly when you lead-off the guy who, if he’s going to play, should hit 8th. And maybe that’s the strangest thing of all–earlier, he was starting Pierre and leading him off because he was married to the concept that Pierre was our only legitimate lead-off hitter with Furcal down. But as we have learned (and as Jungar points out) that’s no longer true. Yet, Torre still leads him off. But, with the team going good, and the ace on the bump, I still feel good. We can win in spite of Torre, like the Yankees did.
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So, I have egg on my face–saying that Penny would be OK, and getting DL’d the next day. I blame Tony Jackson. I really hope the old Penny returns for September.
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Everyone should pldege to ThinkCure. It’s really a great thing, and I give the McCourts a lot of credit for making this an effort of the Dodgers and supporting it. Here’s what I did last year, and did again this year (you can auction for Josh’s pledge, but I won’t be in town for it):
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If the Dodgers have a winning record, I will donate $X.
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If the Dodgers win the NL Wild Card, I will donate $2.5X.
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If the Dodgers win the NL West, I will donate $5X.
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If the Dodgers win the NL Wild Card AND the NLDS, I will donate $7.5X.
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If the Dodgers win the NL West AND the NLDS, I will donate $10X.
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If the Dodgers win the National League Pennant, I will donate $20X.
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If the Dodgers win the World Series, I will donate $40X.
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Pick your own “X” and your own escalating value (some might just add $1 for each threshold),

It’s not the lineup I hate. It’s the ideology behind Juan Pierre being in the lineup that I hate. It is complete stupidity on Torre’s part. Stupidty doesn’t deserve to be rewarded. Slappy’s batting average against lefties is a small minute part of the equation. Ethier does more things better then Pierre that helps us win games. Slappy’s arm will cost alone will cost us more then his bat can make up for.

crash24now – the reason JP doesn’t walk is because he hacks at so many bad pitches and puts them into play, instead of taking them or fouling them off. Surely you’ve seen how often he gets a bad swing at a non-strike and rolls over easy grounders, or pops up.
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There are reasonably recent example sof light-power punch and judy hitters than do walk a lot. Surely you remember Brett Butler? Career OBP/Slg: .377/.376 (yes, slightly more powerful than JP).
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Consider Billy North (he’s got rings in boxes): .365/.323. Definitely a good comparison to Slappy power-wise, yet in his full seasons (which were typically about 100 PAs less than the never-resting McPutout) he walked between 69 and 96 times, despite the fact that no pitcher feared him and there was almost zero-risk he’d hurt you deep.
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My conclusion is that Juan Pierre doesn’t have a very good batting eye and swings at too many pitcher’s pitchers, hitting into too many easy outs.

I get it with Pierre but I still think we spend too much energy on this guy. If we win I don’t care who is playing even if I agree that Ethier should play everyday. I recall a week ago today some folks were not too happy with the lineup and the Dodgers won while the lineups were much more agreeable the next two days and the Dodgers lost. I am not saying any of you are wrong and I understand what you are saying. I really think my main issue is I have grown weary of all the attention Pierre gets and wish he was gone so we could talk about something else.

Don’t forget about his token useless stolen base that he usually steals. In the time he’s been with the Dodgers I don’t remember him having a meaningful stolen base. Not that the Dodgers really have played in any big games but there are moments when you know a runner is going to go and at those times Pierre usually doesn’t go.

Best case scenario for us ethieraholics ~ Dodgers win and JP goes 0 for 5 ~ everyone wins. Yes, I do want the Dodgers to win whether JP is in the game or not, and lately I have put in the “nice jobs, etc” when he does well. I just truly think it’s a mistake having him out there in center field when there is a much better choice – Kemp, and a much better bat – Ethier (I rather take the chance that Andre may hit a home run off a lefty, which he has done several times this year then JP who hasn’t hit one against anybody)

This is good line-up, only if Pierre get’s on in crucial situations, where an advantage is taken of his speed and base stealing expertise.
I don’t know how everybody else feels about this line-up but I’m beginning to
feel very confident every inning.
Everyone has shown the abillity to get on and knock in runs.
Let’s hope Bilz has a good night and we can take care of the Brewers, like we took care of the Phillies.
LET’S GO YA BUMS!!! NOW YOU’RE IN THE RACE.

Max, certainly JP has had some good moments out there, just not enough to suit most of us. Anyway, I am going home. Enjoy the game everyone and lets keep the winning streak going. I will be at the stadium tomorrow to hopefully watch another win.

I like Pierreseasmeetswest’s attitude on this. I agree wholeheartedly–I’m feeling good every inning.
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lbirken–I agree that if we win, that’s what matters. But, it’s critical that we put the best line-up out there. We will win games with bad line-ups, and lose games with good line-ups, but baseball is a law of large numbers–eventually, you get what you deserve. And that’s why I would rather see Etheir than Pierre. But, one game, I can live with.
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I sort of agree with you. It’s worth trading Pierre just to get rid of him as a topic of conversation. If we re-sign Manny (an interesting proposition), we must trade him. Even if we eat as much as $3million in salary, it’s still a bargain.
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Ultimately, I don’t dislike Pierre at all. His woe is me comments of late are distasteful, but I can’t blame him. He’s done everything that has been expected of him. He’s the same guy who signed a $44 Million, five year contract, and he remains the hardest wroking guy on the team. But somewhere along the way, people told him that he was going to be a superstar, and gave him superstar contracts, and no one bothered to tell him, “you know, Juan, we love your work ethic and speed, but you don’t have any power and we really only see you as a 4th outfielder, so we need you to be more selective at the plate, work walks, and we’ll have to put you in left field because we need a stronger arm.” Unfortunately for Pierre, he was always led to believe he was a big star, and if I were him, I would be confused because he’s doing pretty much what he always does. It’s just not good enough, and no one bothered to let him know.

How Joe Torre calls himself a manger and still puts Juan Pierre in the lead off spot despite the fact the Dodgers score more then 50% more runs when someone not named Juan Pierre has led off this year is beyond me.

I’m pretty much with Max but would add that ok fine you gonna play him vs the lefty, then hit him 8th so Manny can hit maybe with some runners on. Furcal has more runs scored than Pierre from leadoff this season. In 90 games played Juan has scored 38 times. In 32 games Furcal scored 34 times. Juan is a waste of an at bat.

leekfink ~ So, shouldn’t somebody tell him he’s not a super star any longer? – LOL!!! Maybe we should send enchanted, obi, eric, or maybe even you as a spokesperson for ITD to tell him he is no longer a superstar. They can tell him that ITD is glad he is doing his best (well, he’s not really doing that well anymore, ethier (either) ), but Ethier is the superstar now. – LOL!!
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seriously ~ I understand what you are saying, and for a game here or there, I am fine with JP starting as long as it stays a game here or there.
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signed,
dnelly ~ ethieraholic who is using trueblu’s computer – lol!!!

leekfink – Surely even JP knows that Ned was hoping JP would rebound to being (or close to being) the .312 hitter he was from 2000-2004, instead of the .284 hitter he was from 2005-2006. Instead he’s hit .289 as a Dodger, which means from 2005-present, a .286 hitter.

How can you call yourself a Dodger fan and in the same breath say you hope the Dodgers lose? Don’t get it.
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It’s an interesting paradox. I understand what your asking but Max has been here daily for years and through a variety of different types of posts has for sure shown he is a true fan.

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When you look at runs scored per game and the record we have with a certain somone leading off and its been 20 years since we have won anything and were in a dogfight where one game can mean the difference and he still plays the guy at leadoff, in lieu of playing a better all around player. Let alone a better leadoff hitter I can understand.

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In fact I turn it around and say as a true fan of the team how do you support that? Blind faith I guess. But really in both cases there is no black and white, it’s all in the shades of grey.

It’s like biting of the foot to save the body. If I knew that we would loose Juan’s next 4 starts and then he would be benched and never start for the dodgers again, ever, then i would want us to loose the next 4 games. Guy still has 3 years left.

Juan Pierre gets a start in place of Andre Ethier, but it still doesn’t seem like this will be a trend. Every interpretation of Joe Torre’s pregame comments paints him as a fourth outfielder. “(We’re) getting him a game here and there so we can expect him to help us off the bench,” Torre said. “He’s used to playing every day. I think he certainly understands that we’ve been doing well, and that basically (he needs to) be ready in case his number is called, because anything can happen. Injuries are unfortunately a part of this game. I think everyone’s experienced that. But right now we’re playing well. Ethier’s having very good at bats, and Matt Kemp, where he’s come from over the past three or four weeks has been terrific. Juan is sitting not because he’s not capable, but because there’s not enough room. It’s a very difficult part of managing.”

So i meant to get on last night and say this and hopefully some of you beat me to it…but i was at the game last night and i have to say nomar put on an absolute clinic last night at shortstop…i was quite the sight

“Hmmm, wonder if Prince Fielder would do a Manny Parra on Juan Pierre if I offered to buy him dinner at A Votre Sante in Brentwood? ” – Andre Ethier’s Evil Twin, “Andros Bourdain” Thought Bubble —8:27pm

Nelly–Well, I thought it was supposed to be Joe Torre, with all of his good people skills, and what not, back in March. But, it looks like it’s going to have to be us.
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Fogey/Westernmost–Yeah, I am sure that he knew we were hoping for more, but given the numbers he put up 2005-06, and then was given a $44 Million contract, he had to be thinking he’s still basically doing what he needs to do. Also, I think that Pierre–like most people of his generation (me included) grew up thinking that batting average is the key statistic for a hitter. It was not until I started reading Rob Neyer in 1995 that I really appreciated OBP. And if Pierre has been around “old school” managers and GM’s–and he has–he probably grew up the same way and never changed, so he does not value a walk in the way that he should, so he never works a walk (and he never draws a walk, because who would pitch around him).
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I am just saying I am sympathetic towards him. He has done pretty much everything he has been asked, and now he is riding the pine. He SHOULD be riding the pine, but no one ever bothered to tell him. He reminds me of the story of the star high school football player who sits in the back of the class and everyone thinks is so great. And then one day high school is over and it turns out that he will never make it beyond that point, but everyone kept telling him how great he was, and so he never learned how to read and he can’t make it in the real world.
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Of course, he’s different because he has $44 million and should know better, but I get that it’s a tough pill to swallow.

leekfink ~ definitely makes you think about how sad his situation is for sure. His position has been competitively taken away from him 4 times this year. Andruw (centerfield), then Andre (first time – left field), then Manny (left field), and then Andre again (2nd time, but moving Matt over to center).

This just in: Caltech reporting a 3.1 temblor centered at Chavez Ravine. Initial reports indicate that this was coincident with Prince Fielder running out a single. No damage reported, except to Chad Billingsley’s WHIP.

My Loney has a first name,
It’s J-A-M-E-S
My Loney has a second name,
It’s L-O-N-E-Y
I love to watch him every day
And if you ask me why I’ll say
‘Cause James Loney has a way
With H-I-T-T-I-N-G!
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By leefink and martinloneykemp

leekfink – the revelation for me was the Bill James Abstract 1986. What you wrote is why I put that argument in terms of BA; Juan must know he used to be a .310+ hitter and now he’s a .290 hitter (at best) and .020 difference in BA should mean something to him and he should know that he’s NOT the player he once was.

This start for Bills is a prime example of how much he has grown as a pitcher. Last year, he would pitch us out of games when he did’nt have his best stuff. Tonight, he did’nt have it early on but he kept us in it until he settled down. A real sign of his maturation into our #1 starter.

“Did you ever suck the jelly out of a jelly doughnut and then fill it with chocolate swirl ice cream? ” – —Prince Fielder text message to Andruw Jones

REPLY

“Yes, done that. But even more fun was the time I sucked the life out of a contending team by filling their fans with a gooey glob of false hope that melted away just like ice cream. Got 2 run, Prince. Got 2 butter my bacon B 4 it gets cold.” – Andruw Jones text msg to Prince Fielder.

Maybe JP’s mama has put a curse on ITD since he’s been riding pine so much. That has happened to three people this week that I know of – jjriley, northstateblues and now westernmost. Kahli must be next. He and old fogey had it happen last time on the same day – very, very strange.

Superlative 5th In A Row 5 to 3 Victory by Our Beloved Los Angeles Dodgers over the Milwaukee Brewers where again this was a Total Complete Team Victory and Everybody Displayed Serious Super Powers! Our Los Angeles Dodger Team is Full Of Wonder & Suprise, able to accomplish the Impossible, and Will Not Accept Anything Less Than The World Series Championship Victory!

ndeschenes ~ I see we have been in a short but sweet mood these last couple of days. It is still great to hear from you. 5 in a row and going strong it looks like. Well, let’s hope the Dodgers can make it 6 in a row. Have a wonderful evening, and a spectacular tomorrow.

Recently, mlb.com has made it so that nicknames can only be 5-10 letters long, for chat or messageboards I guess. I tried the chat one day, and within 24 hours, I was mercury53 in here. no idea why it’s messing with everyone’s name in here.

That happens occasionally to me too. Once I had a leekfinkesque post going and POOF! Into the ozone it went. Shame. It was remarkably brilliant. But like the formula that created Captain America, it was not reproducable. Reproducible. Reproduceble. None of them look right. Is it not a word?

Northstateblues ~ I have days where ITD closes itself and then I have to re-enter through Dodgers.com again. Is that what you mean or is it going out altogether, meaning restart? It only happens with this computer (the laptop).

eric, Once it starts kicking me off a lot, I just open Notepad and type the post in there, then copy and paste it into the newly reloaded page (quickly, since even now the page crased 20 seconds into this post, causing me to cuss a bit and open up Notepad).

eric ~ I have had that happen alot too. Doing a list of posts to different people or a longer post and then it disappears. Then, sometimes it posts without me clicking on submit. hmmm it’s a mystery or could it be a curse. LOL!!!

dnelly, I just have this page open reading it, the status bar starts counting down how many items remaining (over 2200 this time), and 7 times out of 10, it crases before it finishes, causing the page to freeze for 15 seconds, then the Windows “PAGE NOT AVAILABLE” page comes up, with the troubleshooting tips and stuff.

eric, yeah, I was drinkinmercury, it’s from a Smashing Pumpkins lyric I’ve had as a screename since I was a teenager. mercury53 was the name for mlb.com I came up with quickly 5 years ago when I found out you could get an official Dodgers email through the website. I guess it was retained as my mlb name.

facebook is a more adult (meaning opposite of teenagers not x-rated) version of my space. My sister-in-law got me to do it and then Jungar started an ITD group. There are only a few of us in that group. It’s kind of like having your own web page. You can play trivia games, send messages to people, put pictures in there, etc, etc, etc, ~

eric ~ on facebook, I have been doing the Dodgers Trivia Challenge. It’s a lot of fun even though I don’t know any of the answers prior to the late 70’s. However, I am getting better with all the reading I have been doing. I do kick butt on the current stuff, though

eric, I spent most of my school life reading Robinson’s and Koufax’s biographies. Just about every year of school from 4th grade on, I always did a book report on Jackie Robinson or Sandy Koufax. I especially knew Jackie’s life forwards and backwards, from when he was a kid snagging balls on a golf course to sell back to the golfers (ingenious, especially to not get caught) to when he took an ownership stake in Chock Full O’Nuts after his baseball career. I even did a Robinson report for a class in Chico State.

But when I was going to community college, I stumbled across Drysdale’s autobiography. I knew him as a Dodgers broadcaster who pitched with Koufax and tragically passed away during the season. I had heard he was an intimidating pitcher, but it wasn’t til I read that book that I learned what a force he was. I liked his aggresiveness, his proctective nature towards his team, and just how brilliant the guy was overall. Plus, he was from Van Nuys, and though I’m a desert child, he was a fellow Southern Californian, and I could relate to that to a point.

I think I made the name around when I read that book. In the media, Drysdale always seems to be in Koufax’s shadow, not eclipsed, but a little obscured. I thought it’d be a cool tribute to him. Of course, Herbie the Love Bug was a way better tribute, but I wanted to honor Drysdale.

nelly, I’ve just registered to get into it, but I guess I need to wait for an email to finalize it.

north, that’s nice about Don. He was dynamite. He was definitely a dominating-type, but for 6 years I think the President of the US was in Sandy’s shadow.

I remember sitting in my dad’s car listening to the game when he hit Dick Dietz with the bases loaded to apparently force in a run and break his scoreless streak, which was getting very close to Walter Johnson’s record. Quite a moment. I remember how he went on the field when Hershiser broke that record in ’88. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more gracefully congratulate someone who had just eclipsed him.

I am not sure how I found it ~ I think I linked onto somebody else’s page. I think you can go through applications and find sports. In the challenge I thought there was a finite number of questions, but I keep playing and playing. The questions range from the real early days (things I am reading about now) to fairly current (2007ish). You can even add your own questions for other people to answer. Most of the questions have been from 2007 and before.

There’s a good article on Hershiser’s ’88 season by Mark Langill in the July ’08 Dodgers magazine. It talks about how Drysdale was around when he broke the record.:

“I really and truly did not want to break the record,” Hershiser said in a dugout interview with Drysdale. “Out of respect to the man sitting next to me, I feel I should’ve stopped at two-thirds. I wanted to just put the ball down. But the guys next to me in the dugout convinced me to go for it.”

Said Drysdale: “If I had known that, I would’ve been down there kicking you by the seat of your pants.”

judging from todays interview, it seems that Mark Spitz is treating Michael Phelps with the same grace. like in that article, Langil wrote that when he went on the field, Drysdale told Hershiser he was glad the record stayed in the family.

The earliest memories of listening to the Dodgers is when my mom used to listen to the games when they would broadcast from the Union Plaza hotel in Las Vegas. jnv and dcollins were talking about that today. They had to wait until the evening to be able to get the station. I do remember that.

One more race, and then history is made, not that it hasn’t been made already. The relays are the hard ones because Phelps has to rely on 3 other team members to help. I am assuming he is doing butterfly, which means he will be the second one in the pool. If he is doing the freestyle, he will be last.

Yes, I was watching that interview too, and thinking the same thing. I also remember Hershiser stating his reluctance to beat Don’s record.

There are a lot of stories about Walter Johnson, some of them dubious, I’m sure.

In his autobiography, Ty Cobb talked about his respect for Johnson. He said that the ball used to hiss at you. Cobb was player/manager of the Tigers for 6 years (I think), and he said that some of his guys would tend to come up with a mysterious stomach ache when they were due to face him. He also said that he had trouble hitting Johnson until he saw him hit a player and he could tell by the look on his face that he was scared that he had really hurt the guy. Cobb started crowding the plate after that and it forced Johnson to miss the zone. Then he would wait for the cripple down the middle. I don’t know if the stats back that up, but that was Cobb’s claim.

Gosh, I don’t think I have an earliest memory of listening to the Dodgers. The earliest memory that I have is racing to school all excited to talk about winning the ’59 Series. I was 6.

When I was 17, I spent summer vacation on my Aunt’s farm in North Dakota. The Dodgers were on KFI then, a really powerful station. The signal would drift in and out (mostly out), but I could more or less follow the games occasionally. But only at night, as you say.

awesome, eric. I read a bio of Cobb once, have to read it again sometime soon.

WHen I get off work and I’m working the night shift, the first thing I do is tune the radio to 1560 AM Bakersfield to see if the game’s still on. Staticy as hell, but it get’s the job done. Steiner’s excitement goes well with the static.

Went to the game today… was terrif. Curing Juvenile Diabetes is the real issue at hand… lets just think about that. But seriously… this game was a lot of fun. Casey Blake The Flake doesn’t get enough credit – he is the man.

Northstateblues – you can get that channel where you are? Wow!!! I don’t even think I have tried here, not that I need to because of mlb.com, but I will have to see now just because. I have always listened to 680 (gnats radio), but I will have to look into that. I can get 710 out of Fresno/Visalia, which is ESPN radio. I listen to Mike and Mike on there.

jb ~ know what you mean. My husband and brother-in-law are both Type I diabetics (inherited). Medicinal technology has come a long way in how insulin is administered into the body now, but yes, a cure should be the ultimate goal.

My earliest Dodgers memory is a bit embarrassing. When I was 5, I was an Angels fan. Went well with church, you know. My favorite player was… gulp… Reggie Jackson. One of my dad’s friends, a lifelong Yankee fan, loved this, and had fun with my dad about it. “Remember,” he would tell me, “The best team in the world is the Yankees”. Obviously, I forgot what he told me until my dad reminded me of it a few years ago.

Anyway, one day my parents dropped me and my sister off at my grandparents for the day, as they headed to Dodger Stadium. They asked if we wanted anything. I said an Angels shirt. I couldn’t understand why my dad was a little miffed, but he said he’d do what he could.

Later that night, they came back, and my dad tells me “Sorry, this was the only shirt they had.” It was a jersey-style shirt, blue 3/4 sleeves, white, with a Dodgers logo on the chest. Blue was my favorite color, so I was sold.

The next year (’87), we won a Blue Crew Fan Club contest to meet the players (including Hershiser, Dave Anderson and Reggie Williams), got a backpack with baseball cards, a book with pictures of all the Topps Dodger baseball cards from ’57 to ’87, and a blue crew hat that we had the players sign. After that, they had all the winning families line up on the infield to be announced, and they showed us on Dodgervision. I didn’t understand why I kept seeing the back of my head.

After that, there was never any turning back.

I’ve gotta knock off for the night, at least for now. If I don’t see you before then, good night, and here’s to another great day of Dodgers Baseball.

My brother-in-law was a juvenile diabetic. My husband had been type II, but got a kidney infection, and that threw his system out of whack somehow, and a few months after that, he was diagnosed with type I after spending a few scary days in the hospital. So, when I saw Jason pitch for the first time, I knew immediately what the black box on his waist was for.

I knew what that box was too, unfortunately. The family that were the leaders of the Cub Scout Den that Matt joined have a little girl who was diagnosed Type I at the age of 3. She was fitted with a pump about 5 years ago, I think. She’s about the cutest thing you have ever seen and is still going strong. I think she’s about 11 now.

I finally broke down and took a class to learn more about it this year. Have you bought “Diabetes For Dummies”? If not, you should. Have your husband read it, and you might too. It’s got a lot of encouragement in it as well as the bad stuff that’ll happen if you don’t behave.

Believe me ~ he already has suffered from not behaving. I am not one to be around sick people. It tends to make me sick too. I know when it comes down to it, the adrenaline will take over and I will be able to do it, but right now, my kids are probably more prepared to handle it then I am if something were to go wrong. I have one of those weak stomachs when it comes to medical issues. Even in the classroom, if a kid is sick to his/her stomach – they may leave the room at any time without asking. Not my cup of tea for sure.

Hey – it’s your fault!! I have to get up and finish my classroom – students show up on Monday – yikes!! Good night Ward dear – see you tomorrow sometime.
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Northstateblues- I don’t think we thought it was this late until eric just mentioned it. Jhall will be getting up soon seeing it is 5:30 in Ohio. LOL!!!

baseball talk – yes, the Dodgers are playing fantastic baseball right now. It’s like I am not worried about being down runs any more. It’s a great feeling. Other than the JP thing, everything else is going great right now.

I’ve felt like that before. When I was a kid, before Christmas, Easter, and going to Dodger Stadium and Disneyland. Now, I get that way before travelling back to SoCal, especially if I”m flying, I hate planes.

yeah, It’s so beautiful. And I like that they changed the colors back to the orginal design… it just suits it more. Hopefully the Next 50 Years plan will add to it instead of detract from it aesthetically.

Of course, I’ll never complain about having a chance to eat Dodger Dogs year round. Especially if I could take the Metrolink from Rancho Cucamonga (where I have some family).

If gas prices weren’t so high, I could see me going a lot more often. This summer I have really figured out how to get there easier. It’s a four hour drive, which isn’t too bad really, plus I have figured out downtown pretty well now, and how to get to the stadium from there using no freeways.

dnelly, Yeah, I haven’t been able to get down there as much as I’d like to lately, but hopefully that’ll change after I graduate and spend a few years paying off loans (ack), followed by hopefully a job teaching at the community college level. Then I can spend my summers catching some ballgames in person.

For now, and with that as the eventual goal, Gameday Audio and Charley Steiner waking up my girlfriend for a warning track popfly will suffice. Thank God for the internet, it’s not like our local paper will ever print more than a 2 paragraph wrap-up on the Dodger games, usually from the other team’s perspective.

Okay, now I have to knock off for good tonight. Have a good night, and I hope you can get some sleep, though if you’re anything like I am when nervous with anticipation, you’ll probably spend it clock-watching, heh.

Good morning in ITD land. After reading the posts from last night — I should say early this morning — I can see you were all very busy keeping Dodger fever going. Great game last night and I’m now very confident we can sweep this series too. A few runs down doesn’t mean what it did a month ago, no panic, just taking care of business.

Good Morning ITD writers and readers!!
Another great game last night. Five in a row,and it looks like we are going strong. Another great team effort, and another great pitching performance by Billz and then the bullpen, especially Broxton for closing it down well last night. Let’s go for six!!!

dnelly ~ I can’t believe you’re up this early after your late night. Well, yes I can. ITD is very addicting and we don’t want to miss out on anything. I’m so proud of our team (minus one) for playing so well. They are showing a lot of maturity. Along with being ethieraholics, I think we are also ITDjunkies.

Northstateblues ~ It looks like you get the prize for staying up the latest. Great stories last night, though. Where are you going to school? And yes, thank goodness for the internet and ESPN because print news doesn’t give us any Dodger information here at all, and like you said, if we do happen to get in the papers up here, it’s never from the Dodgers’ perspective.
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Good Morning, trueblu ~ late night last night for some reason. It was eric and nsb’s fault ~ they kept asking questions – LOL!!!

The time went so fast! The last time I looked at the clock it was 11:30 and then all of a sudden Eric mentioned it was 2:20, but then northstateblues came back on to talk more baseball, and then I couldn’t sleep,but it looks like he beat me so I guess he had a harder time sleeping than I did.

Plus, eric’s got me reading books about the early days of baseball, so since there weren’t any articles with Andre in them, I spent alot of time reading that instead. I even read that book during the games now, plus I was doing name tags for school, and I am still trying to sort out all those baseball cards. I have the national league done (all in division binders now),and now I am working on the American League). I did a good job of multi-tasking last night/early morning.

These two sound like prospects to keep our eyes on in the coming years.

The most advanced draftee appears to be second-round pick Josh Lindblom, a 6-5, 240-pound right-handed pitcher from Purdue. A closer in college, he has been starting at Class A Great Lakes and been overpowering, with 18 strikeouts and two walks in 19 innings.

The best position prospect out of this Draft might be Devaris Gordon, an infielder out of Seminole Community College and son of Major League reliever Tom Gordon. He’s hitting .308 at Rookie-level Ogden and is considered the fastest runner in the organization.

Casey Blake has definitely been an asset to the Dodgers. He is just under the radar right now because of the Mannymania, but if I remember, he quietly did his job with the Indians too. When the Dodgers played the Indians earlier in the season, every time Casey Blake came up to bat Vin couldn’t say enough good things about him, not that Vin doesn’t have alot of good things to say about anybody, but I especially remember him talking about Casey Blake, and it was often.

Happy Birthday Mom II !! Once you get to forty you’re allowed to start counting backwards.

Obi and Fogey look like they were on a roll last night. Funny stuff.

Another nice come from behind last night. If they hadn’t blown those two in SF, they’d really be on a roll. As it is, I sure didn’t expect them to be able to take five total on this homestand, let alone the first five in a row. Now we need someone to start playing the Snakes tough. They do have Florida coming up though.

Blake’s done better than I thought he would, and has far exceeded any expectation you’d normally have for a Ned acquisition. With LaRoche gone, I wouldn’t have a problem with them signing Casey to a 2-year deal. Nothing more than that though.

Good Morning, enchanted/Beav!!!!
Who would have thought JP would walk and strike out in the same game. That is something neither one of us predicted – go figure!
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A note about Andy – he got a web gem the other night. Even though I am glad Blake is here, it’s great to see Andy get the playing time he deserves.

Good morning, enchanted. Thanks for the birthday greeting. I actually feel better now than I did at 40. (yea, sure!) Obi and Fogey were definitely on a roll. I couldn’t keep up with them so, I went to bed. I think I have to take a nap in the evening so I can chat until 3:00 AM. Loved the game last nigh too. We are playing very good ball right now and seem relaxed at the plate. Keep it up Dodgers!

Good for Andy. Boy he’s sure struggling with the bat though – 5 for 33 with the Bucs. I thought with some regular playing time and without the L.A. pressure he’d get off to a better start. I think he’ll still develop into a good one though.

LOL!!!! I said that, and it also sounds like it could be an ice cream flavor as well – LOL!!! Old Fogey/westernmost will love that!!! I was laughing all night about that (I still am). I can just picture him saying “Well That’s a stupid name” – LOL!!!

It took me a while to figure out who winflavor was. I actually thought it was some jerk trying to be funny! It could be an ice cream flavor! That, printed on a shirt would make people stop and notice. Like “WINFLAVOR OF THE MONTH” they’d think they were winning a prize!

When I first saw the name, my “village idiot alert” thoughts came to mind, but he was making sense so I stopped thinking it. I am glad he said something. This is his third name since I’ve been on here because of some glich. We figure JP’s got a curse on ITD (or his mama does) – lol!!

Speaking of JP, I really don’t get how he helps this team. He can’t even hit the ball out of the infield. Doesn’t get a hit with runners on (who am I kidding, doesn’t really hit at all) and adds no charisma to the clubhouse. Joe says he’s a spot player, meaning Andre will play most of the time. But, I think he should be assigned to pinch running & maybe an at bat now & then. Sorry, I went off a little. I just can’t stand anyone who’s not a team player!

Considering the big changes in our team since the trade deadline, the one I’m impressed with is Blake. He hasn’t had the splash impact of Manny, but he seems to be a solid player and individual with decent power by Dodger standards. I wish it could have been DeWitt putting up those numbers for us, but after his May performance he pretty much showed me that he wasn’t yet ready for the majors. I do note that he’s now playing second base at Vegas with Chavez switched to third. I would agree with signing Blake (Casey) for two years based on his performance with the team.

When it comes to Manny, I think the decision will really be made by Frank. I can readily see him giving Manny a 3 year, and maybe even a 4 year deal, but it will be based on his Boston connection and publicity and ticket sales value in LA. I suppose if Manny can keep up decent numbers even for let’s say 2 years, wasting his salary in the last year or two won’t be something alltogether unfamiliar for Frank, considering what Ned has cost him in the last year or two. If I had to make the decision on re-signing Manny, I would not, because in the long run I think that what I consider his lack of character will shine through and bite you in the a**. In the meantime, I’ll cheer him on in his two month drive for a super contract and hope that he takes the Dodgers as far as we can go this year.

messagebear ~ very nice post!
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~ I would love for the Manny honeymoon to last forever, but at some point, if the Dodgers find it is over, then what? My prediction is that if he is going to show his true colors, it won’t be until after he signs the contract. I like what he is bringing to the game, but will it last three or four more years? Only Manny knows, I guess…

That’s okay ~ You need to be having fun, too!!! It is great to see the Dodgers doing so well. It’s not that doom and gloom stuff when they are down a few runs any more. It looks really good right now. If an occasional JP start is all we have to gripe about( and we griped alot), it must be good.

I think all you need to know about Manny is that he’s a Boras client. Fool me once (Drew) shame on you. Fool me twice (Druw) shame on me. Fool me three times and its shame on Frank.

Once they dropped the option years to get him, a red flag should’ve gone up – he’s got $168 million and still wants another huge payday. I personally don’t want to see Manny at 40-41. When they dropped the option years management lost all control of the situation. I think you’ve got to let him walk or you end up with another JP albatross contract on your hands. The money to sign Manny would be better spent on CC instead.

very well said enchanted 🙂
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I think all Frank is seeing right now is money going into his pocket from the Manny merchandise so I guess we will have to wait and see what he does. An interesting off-season for sure.

jhall ~ 57dodger, thanks for the birthday greeting. It is strange how everyone’s name is getting changed. Do you guys think it has anything to do with facebook? Or, perhaps as nells said, it’s a JP curse!

I would do whatever it takes to sign Manny. His true color are a very big role in 2 rings in the last 4 years and one of the best right handed hitters ever. And he is still producing big time. There are at least 5 starters from the 09 team who will be making under a million each. To not sign him would show me we can careless about winning.

I would because the next three years he will produce. Then you trade him or just eat the money. We have the money. They are paying Jones, Pierre, Nomar, Kent and Schmidt over 75 million this year..just for those 5. They can afford Manny.

jungar ~ point very well taken as usual. I am pleasantly surprised how much I have enjoyed watching him play, and to see what he has done to the chemistry of this team – great stuff so far. Right now he is making a positive impact, and if they can off load JP somehow, that would make it that much nicer for the years to come.

I’m a huge beliver in having Mashers in your llineup. Guys you worry about when others are hitting. Manny can beat you with a walk. A single a double or a homerun. Again were paying one little guy 50 million and he cant even hit it out of the infield. Another guy 50 millon and he cant pitch. Another guy 36 million who is in triple A. Another guy 20 million and if he is not disabled after playing 4 straight games were like, stoked. So I don’t want to hear about not being able to afford it. What we can’t afford is Ned being the GM.

Going off to school to finish setting up!! Have a wonderful Saturday, and I will check in on occasion to see what’s up.
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enchanted ~ stay away from JP’s mama – we don’t need her calling Joe again. LOL!!

Manny’s great when Manny wants to play. Its him wanting to play all the time that worries me, as does a 38-39-40 year old wandering the outfield everyday. Won’t be long he only gets 3-4 ABs per game rather than 4-5 because he has to come out for a defensive replacement. As for the money, being in business for myself I look at that from a different angle than most I guess. I’m still of the mind that if you take the Manny money and sign CC and Sheets you won’t have to score as many runs. Of course if Frank sees nothing but revenue $$$ in his eyes, Manny’s as good as signed now.

We have to remember too that no matter what the organization, money’s not in endless supply – even the Yankees and Sox have their fiscal limits. As leveraged as Frank was when he bought this team, and the fact that neither Blake nor Manny are being paid by him is “interesting.”

I also think the Sox knew what they were doing when they had the two option years when he’s 37/38, 38/39. IMO, deciding if he’s worth $20 mil one year at a time is a helluva lot more prudent than deciding at 37 if he’s worth 4 more years at a guaranteed contract.

Not saying an impact bat isn’t important because clearly it has been what the D’s have lacked offensively. But I’d give you an argument if it was signing Babe Ruth at 37 and the money we’re talking.

I’m totally with you in most cases enchanted. Signing Manny is exactly opposite of what I would do normally. But this is a team that will play Juan Pierre over Andre Ethier. If I trusted them to do what’s smart we would be screwed. Plug Manny in that 4 hole for the next two years is pretty much all I care about. That’s like a smart move for them.

Jungar & enchanted ~ I didn’t think so before, but I believe we need Manny. He makes the players around him better. Pitchers worry about his at bat and therefore, hitter 3 will get better pitches. Just look at what Kent is doing since Manny came to us. Kent won’t admit to it but it’s true.

Not much. I just finished running a virus scan on this thing and was about to shut it down and get to work on the yard when I had a need to feed my new addiction. Then I saw jhall’s namechange and had to find out who I might be today! Guess I’m still me for now.

Think its a matter of not enough players Tru. Unless they do some fancy footwork, we’ll have holes in SP, LF, SS, 3B and 2B. 2009 FA market is VERY thin. If they choose to sign Manny and lose Blake, DeWitt’s back at third. Now there’s a hole at 2B. Doesn’t seem to me that JoJo’s going to want to be without at least some of his vets, and Kent seems rejuvinated with both the kids and batting infront of Manny. Not saying its a smart move, its not. But knowing our management, I think its a distinct possibility.

Also, the possibility of getting ANY value for JP and/or Andruw is nil for a position player of any impact. That’ll be another reason that if they sign Manny, I think Dre and DY are gone so they can plug another hole.

What you are saying makes sense, enchanted. Unless we win it all, I don’t know if Jeff will want to come back. I think he want to go home to Texas. Also, I wonder how much power Torre has with the upper brass as to who he wants. I don’t think he really wants to deal with Manny for several seasons. I’m praying that we can somehow unload Pierre and Jones. That would make me the happiest person on the planet.

Yup, if we win the WS, Kent retires a happy man. A lot is going to depend on what it looks like the Snakes do too. I can’t see them making a run at CC, but I can at Sheets, and a rotation of Webb, Haren and Sheets would be pretty tough to match up against unless we had CC. Then CC/Bills/Kersh/Kuroda/?? would be pretty tough too.

There’s going to be some salary dump (hopefully) after this year: Nomar, Penny, Ferk (?), Kent, Lowe, and Saito (?). A small part of that will be eaten up in arbitration with Martin and Ethier. The bulk will all depend on whether Frank wants to put it back into his product or use it on renovations.

If Frank wants to use it on renovations, he can go cheap at 2B (DeWitt) SS (Hu) and LF/OF (JP and Druw – he’s paying them anyway.) He’s still going to have to spend some money on 3B and SP though.

The off’season will truly be intersting. I don’t know if I’m excited or scared. I would hope we take care of our pitching staff first because, after all it is pitching that wins for you in the long run. With all the renovations planned by Frank, he had better put the best product on the field he possibly can. I know as a whole, the Dodgers have pretty good sized crowds every night. But, without quality players, he won’t have a full house every night. Just look at the Giants, the only way the fill the stadium is if we are playing there.

Okay ~ this is really bizarre, but I went searching for a song on Dodgerlyrics from my classroom, and it asked for my password to get onto the site (It was a jhall song if that makes a difference). When I looked at my sign-in name, it read debnelson (never used in connection with ITD before) Anyhow, I had to go through and re-do everything again – what a weird day for names. So, this is my new sign-in name from school, and I guess I will have to wait and see what happens when I get home.
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dnelly ~ ethieraholic

There’s more to Manny than just RBIs. He’s brought life to a very boring, listless franchise. Dodger Stadium is actually FUN again. Besides, Joe likes his vets–and he won’t have Nomar and Kent (and probably not Blake) next season. So why not Manny? The guy is the best pure hitter I’ve ever seen in a Dodger uniform and he isn’t an old grump like some of our favorite Dodgers. Will he implode? Who the hell knows? SIGN HIM. As for CC, the Brewers are pitching him like–well, a two month rental. Innings piling up, he may not have an arm to sign come the winter!! Besides, high-priced free agent pitchers are a recipe for disaster. But why worry about 2009 just now? Let’s ride the last vestiges of the Nomar/Kent era and see how far these guys can go. If the playoffs started today, this team would be VERY TOUGH to beat. But that’s the rub: who’s to say if Nomar/Kent won’t break in half an hour from now?

trueblu ~ LMAO!!!
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kpookiemon/kahli ~ It’s good to see you on here with a least your second original name. Westernmost/Old Fogey is now “winflavor” as of last night (still laughing about that), and jhall has a new name as well. As for your comment, I am happy with how Manny is doing right now, both on and off the field, and it does seem like this team is actually having fun for a change. So, I have decided to enjoy it for what it is, and let’s see what happens when it’s all said and done. I am sure when it’s done, there will be plenty to talk about. This group can talk about anything pretty much, but that’s why it is so much fun.

I agree with you about Manny. I want him back too. I just don’t know if Joe does. When we were there for his first game, they sold out of all white #99 t-shirts. Amazing how he took over in one weekend. I’m also wary of signing pitchers (does Jason Schmidt ring a bell) but with Billz & Kershaw I think a good veteran pitcher would add a lot to our rotation.

it would be awesome if we could find a way to retain blake, manny, and a healthy furcal. after kevin brown, jason schmidt, darren dreifort, and barry zito, i would be VERY hesitant to sign CC to that 7 year 150 million dollar deal he’s probably dreaming about. the whole left side of the infield is gone after this season. blake, furcal, and hudson would look nice there. 🙂

enchanted not being enchanted is NOT good. It’s all in the name enchanted, it’s all in the name!!!! How bizarre!!!!! Now you are just a number – what kind of sign is that? LMAO!!! This is just too bizarre!!!

enchanted ~ it made me sign in too, and then I had to sign into Dodgerlyrics ( a site in which there are a few of my songs on there if I’m not mistaken), but it came up debnelson (have never used it in connection with these two sites. I had to go and redo my sign in name.

I’m having to sign in again, too, after I had the audacity to try my previous kahliforni log-in. Strange cyber world we live in. The worst thing about the five-game winning streak is the lack of hate crimes on post-game Dodger Talk. Everything is peaches and cream right now with the L.A. faithful…

“But he (Torre) gets edgy now when he’s questioned about it (Manny’s hair). Add that to the fact that caps with fake dreadlocks are flying off the shleves in the team stores in Dodger Stadium and I’ll bet you that management might have wished Joe hadn’t been so insistent on it.”

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